When I heard the first time in May 2020 that a student was asked by his teacher to cover his eyes during an online oral check, so that he couldn’t read notes, I couldn’t believe that such a request was real. We were in the middle of a terrible pandemic that was (and is) affecting not only the physical health of many people, but the mental and emotional confidence of our youngsters. What does it mean to ask a student to cover the eyes to avoid cheating? Is this…

Past epidemics and pandemics could only be tackled by social restrictions: isolation, social distance, quarantine. The  Great Plague of Milan in the 17th century lasted about 3 years and was followed by various outbreaks all over Italy for over 20 years despite the efforts to keep the infected people away from the rest of the population. The first period of restrictions in Milan was quite effective but a release of those measures to allow people enjoy the Carnival in 1630 caused a new major outbreak of the disease. The estimated toll of lives taken in that period may vary between 15% and 60% in Italian cities and the decline of economic and cultural life  in Italy was dramatic for more than a century. During the current pandemic of COVID-19 social restrictions have been…

Do children need longer days or a longer school year to catch up what they have “lost” during lockdowns? This post on the AEL blog takes part into the debate